{"id":607,"date":"2012-01-10T06:46:15","date_gmt":"2012-01-09T22:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=607"},"modified":"2012-01-10T06:46:15","modified_gmt":"2012-01-09T22:46:15","slug":"china-daily-on-path-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=607","title":{"rendered":"China Daily on Path Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The China Daily <\/a>has an enthusiastic review by Chitralekha Basu of the recently published Path Light: New Chinese Writing<\/em><\/a>, titled “One for the Ages.” The opening paragraph matches enthusiasm with detailed context:<\/p>\n

\n

This is a collector’s item. And not just because of its obvious historical importance. The first edition of Pathlight: New Chinese Writing<\/em> magazine is a metaphor of the cooperation between Chinese and Western agencies – in this case, the influential People’s Literature magazine, edited by Li Jingze and the Paper Republic team, helmed by Eric Abrahamsen – to showcase Chinese literature to the rest of the world. What an absolute gem this slender 160-page volume is, in terms of the range of voices it covers, some of them translated for the first time. Kudos to the translators for bringing out the varied textures, emotions, cadences and even the visual appeal in some of the lines penned by the featured Chinese writers represent.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The review says less about the poetry: only,<\/p>\n

The poetry section features six names, most of them born on the cusp of 1970. These, including the widely translated Xi Chuan, are seasoned, well-honed voices, who have been at their craft for a while, having evolved their own poetic idiom.<\/p>\n

I loved the minimalist poems of Yu Xiang, especially the one about making friends with fellow women and then losing them along the way. It’s a very universal theme and quite unsentimentally put across.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m also a fan of Yu Xiang \u5b87\u5411, and of Fiona Sze-Lorrain<\/a>‘s translations. I have to admit, however, that I feel a bit queasy every time I see a reference to anyone–especially Xi Chuan–in the Chinese press that makes mention of being “widely translated.” Coming from a non-Chinese national such as Basu it’s probably no more than an objective–if relative–fact, or even praise of Xi Chuan’s border-crossing quality. But–and this may seem counter-intuitive to anyone not familiar with the political context of Chinese cultural standards–very often when certain Chinese figures talk about Chinese writers being “widely translated,” it comes with an insinuation that the writer is translated because his or her work is not “Chinese” enough (as if such a thing were quantifiable, or at odds with gaining an international following). Leaving aside the question of whether Xi Chuan is in fact “widely translated,” I’ve encountered situations where people have used this observation to denigrate his work–even when referring to what I think of as his most “Chinese” pieces!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The China Daily has an enthusiastic review by Chitralekha Basu of the recently published Path Light: New Chinese Writing, titled “One for the Ages.” The opening paragraph matches enthusiasm with detailed context: This is a collector’s item. And not just … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,12,16,7],"tags":[303,304,97,228,181,98,251,1654,82],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-9N","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":500,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=500","url_meta":{"origin":607,"position":0},"title":"Path Light on Podcast","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"December 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Over at Popupchinese's Sinica series, host Jeremy Goldkorn is joined by Paper Republic's Eric Abrahamsen and Alice Liu, managing editor of Path Light: New Chinese Writing, as well as Jo Lusby, general manager of Penguin books in North Asia, for a special podcast on Path Light and the state of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":338,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=338","url_meta":{"origin":607,"position":1},"title":"Chinese Week at Norway’s Litteraturhuset","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As I mentioned yesterday, Xi Chuan flew from Hongkong to Norway, where he's participating in Chinese Literature week at the House of Literature along with Wang Hui \u6c6a\u6656, Murong Xuecun \u6155\u5bb9\u96ea\u6751, Ma Jian \u9a6c\u5efa, Leslie T. Chang, Rebecca Karl, Michael Dutton, Yiyun Li \u674e\u7fca\u96f2, Hong Ying \u8679\u5f71, Mian Mian \u68c9\u68c9,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Litteraturhuset-China-Week.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":378,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=378","url_meta":{"origin":607,"position":2},"title":"Caging a Monster","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Xi Chuan discussed the state of publishing in China and read his co-translations of Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge with Harald B\u00f8ckman during Chinese Literature Week at Norway's Litteraturehuset--with \"around 4,000 attendees at 30-some events,\" according to Paper Republic's Eric Abrahamsen--but what seems to have been the most newsworthy event\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":753,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=753","url_meta":{"origin":607,"position":3},"title":"\u9501\u67f1\u5b50\u559c\u6b22\u7ba1\u95f2\u4e8b","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"My friend Eric Abrahamsen, founder of Paper Republic, has a new article on the International Herald Tribune blog about gu\u01cen \u7ba1: Originally meaning \u201cpipe\u201d or \u201cflute\u201d \u2014 the feathery bit at the top is the bamboo radical, indicating a section of bamboo culm \u2014 gu\u01cen later evolved into a verb\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2012\/02\/13\/opinion\/13latitude-guan-abrahamsen\/13latitude-guan-abrahamsen-blog480.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":966,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=966","url_meta":{"origin":607,"position":4},"title":"Eric Abrahamsen on Chinese Writers Remembering Yan’an","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Over at the NYTimes blog Eric Abrahamsen of Paper Republic has, with characteristic sarcasm, written about the recent edition of One Hundred Writers\u2019 and Artists\u2019 Hand-Copied Commemorative Edition of the \u201cYan\u2019an Talks.\u201d So what were the \u201cYan\u2019an Talks\u201d \u5728\u5ef6\u5b89\u6587\u827a\u5ea7\u8c08\u4f1a\u4e0a\u7684\u8bb2\u8bdd? Eric describes: The Yan\u2019an Talks on Literature and Art, delivered in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1723,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1723","url_meta":{"origin":607,"position":5},"title":"Contemporary Chinese Literature in Translation at AWP","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Thursday, March 7, 4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.: R267. Contemporary Chinese Literature in Translation. (Lucas Klein, Xi Chuan, Jonathan Stalling, Eric Abrahamsen, Eleanor Goodman) Panelists will discuss the pleasures and frustrations they encounter translating contemporary Chinese literature, including issues of linguistic differences between Chinese and English, problems of copyright, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":609,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions\/609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}